10 Facts About Elephants

There are some interesting elephant facts and there is a wealth of facts about elephants readily available. One of the elephant facts is that here are no natural predators that attack an elephant. Another fact about elephants is they can live from fifty to seventy years of age. They first made an appearance about 60 million years ago so have walked the earth for a long time.

1) Mating of elephants

One of the elephant facts is males have musth glands behind their eyes and during the mating or breeding season they give off an odor from them. Another of the facts about elephants is the males use their ears to spread this odor further away from them to attract females. Another of the elephant facts is only the dominant males are allowed to breed the females and one of the facts about elephants is these are generally the oldest bull males over fifty years old. The season for mating is very short and a female may only be able to conceive a couple of times a year. A female will make well defined sounds to attract those males it wants.

2) Elephant characteristics

The facts about elephants is that both sexes have thick wrinkled skin and long incisors or tusks made of ivory except in the Asian variety where only the male has them. The elephant facts are these often grow out six feet or longer. One of the facts about elephants is that they have an excellent sense of smell and that sense of smell is through their trunks. Some elephant facts are their bodies and body parts like the ears are smaller or larger depending on where their natural habitat is. The Africans live near the equator and need the larger ears for cooling them off. The body skin is about 1 inch thick except around the ears.

3) Male versus female elephant characteristics

One of the female elephant facts is female elephants carry their babies for about 22 months which is longer than any other land animal. Another of the facts about elephants is the female can outrun the males so one of the elephant facts is if they are not interested in mating a male they can run away. Also male elephants in musth can be extremely dangerous and very difficult to control.

4) Elephant socializing

The elephant facts and socializing is that the females form a tight family group with other females including socializing with females in other herds. The fact about elephants is that the elephant herd is a very structured unit. The females are run by the oldest female in the group. The male or bull elephant is a solitary animal. As they get older they begin to leave the unit for weeks and then longer periods of time.

5) Elephants and eating

One of the facts about elephants is they can eat about 300 pounds of greens a day. The elephant facts are that elephants are plant eaters and they use their trunks to eat with. The fact about elephants is that their trunks are so flexible they can pick up a single blade of grass. Another of the elephant facts is that they do have teeth but they use their trunks to tear up their food like leaves and plants and then use that same truck to put it into their mouth. They can consume fifteen quarts of water sucking it up into their trunks then blowing it into their mouth.

6) Wild elephants versus those in captivity

The fact about elephants is that the elephants as a species are declining quickly. Many of them are still poached for their ivory but since there have been stronger regulations against ivory poaching this has helped reduce their being killed for the ivory. The elephants in zoos are often in special conservation programs and they are not killed for their tusks.

7) Different varieties of elephants

The fact about elephants is that today there are only African and Asian elephants. The African are either savanna elephants or forest elephants. They two African species can interbreed but because they live in very different environments they don’t often come upon each other during that very short mating season. It is a rough estimate but there used to be five million elephants in 1930 and today there may be 25,000 Asian elephants and perhaps 200,000 African elephants but it is hard to get an accurate count.

8) African Bush and Forest elephant

The elephants facts about African elephants is their ears are huge in size. The fact about these elephants is when in repose the ears cover their whole shoulder. The elephant facts are that this type of elephant does not respond well to man and won’t work easily with them. One of the facts about elephants in Africa is their bodies evolved to fit their location. The savanna elephant which lives on grasslands are larger whereas the forest elephants are smaller with straight tusks which allow them to move through the forest better.

9) Asian or Indian Elephant

The elephants facts about the Asian elephant are that it has smaller ears and there is also a much smaller population of them compared with the African breed. The fact about these elephants is they are a lighter grey in color. Unlike the African elephants the fact about elephants in Asia only has one finger looking projection from their trunks where the African has two of them projecting from their truck.

10) Elephant lore

One of the elephant facts is that they are considered a symbol of wisdom in various Asian communities. Another of the facts about elephants is in the Buddhist religion they hold a very important place and no Buddhist procession is complete without at least one elephant carrying the religious relics. The elephant facts are that elephants are tied to the Buddhist religion and the fact about elephants is that they are highly revered and the milk of an elephant is very nutritional but cannot be drunk by humans.

Reply to this Comment

Reply to this Comment

A lot more than ten facts. In my country Sri Lanka sighting an elephant on the road is not uncommon but I have to say that what makes me sad is the number of elephants that are killed for the tusks and shot to death for destroying crops.
I read that sometimes bombs are disguised in pumpkins that the elephant consumes. This blasts in the mouth of course causing damage and eventually death.
Why not love the animals.
There is a saying of Muhammad (sal) love the creatures of the earth and the one above you will love you.

Reply to this Comment

Hi--Loved your article and incidentally, I had opportunity a few years ago to make a study of elephants throughout Asia--they are without doubt amazing and intelligent animals--As the man who headed up our study always would say--If elephants had hands they would have ruled the wordl. Also, I agrere with Yummy=treasures in the above--it is shameful that our speices kill so many creetures for profit--today even the Rhino is being murdered for its ivory.
Anyway 5 stars for you--great piece!~